Laura M Clark

2 weeks later…

My favorite view, with an unfavorable injury.

Take that Pikes Peak! Woot! Even an injury didn’t slow me down. Two weeks later I conquered you again, if a little slower. I’ll be back.

OK, you’ve all read the story, so here’s the picture I neglected to stop and take when I took my tumble. This is at about MM5.5 on the Barr Trail, and in this picture you can’t see the dirt/dust because it had just rained and settled everything down.

I was hiking down the trail (so in this picture think of someone walking towards you), rounded the corner, tripped over one of the larger rocks, and fell onto a smaller one. Then I kept going.

Sixth Summit of Pikes Peak

Last night Nathan came over to spend the night before our
big hike the next morning. Sure, he
could have just met us at the trailhead, but he’d of had to pay for parking ($10
per vehicle) and besides, I wanted to be sure he was prepared for the
hike. He seemed truly confused when he arrived at
7:30pm and Liam, Lana, and Mr. Rasmussen were there. His look was quite comical. We had
to explain a Girl Scout meeting had just ended.

I had a bunch of food out for the boys to make snacks (trail
mix, peanuts, popcorn, cheese-its, beef jerky, etc.), and asked them to each
make a snack bag to take with them. I
packed as light as I could. I took into
account exactly how much food/water I’d consumed on the last hike and tried to
bring the bare minimum to reduce pack weight.
I debated back and forth on whether or not to bring my windbreaker and
decided I’d never been upset I’d brought a jacket, and set it out with my pole.

I prepped them on the hike, asked them what they wanted for
breakfast (Thomas wanted to get up early to make eggs), and when they wanted to
leave. I set out all my gear and went to
bed around 9pm with the boys chatting in the living room watching movies. We
decided on waking up at 2:15am and getting to the trail as soon as
possible. That ended up being a really
good idea.

We began our hike at 3:20am.
The parking lot already had quite a few cars, which we assumed were from
people staying at Barr Camp. I was wearing a headlamp and took the
lead. Thomas had forgotten his
flashlight (well, he said Nathan forgot it, but it was really Thomas’
responsibility to make sure he had it). Nathan had a small flashlight so he took up
the rear.

There were more bugs than normal on this hike, all flying
into my headlamp (which means my face).
My mind started to wander and I came up with a new theory. I’ll summarize: You know how many of the
people who saw bats a long time ago were miners in caves? Well, those miners probably wore headlamps,
which attracted bugs. Bats are attracted
to bugs as a food source, so maybe the old wives tale about bats being
attracted to your hair comes from early miners’ experiences with bats trying to
catch bugs by the light of their headlamps.
I may research this theory at some point…

About a mile into the trail I saw someone hiking towards us
with a green and red headlamp. As he got
closer I noticed he was wearing bear bells.
I wondered to myself if he had just done the Incline or if he’d been a
night hiker when he said “you’ve got a lot of hikers ahead of you” and passed
us. Hmmmm. I guess those cars were from early birds who
got an earlier start than we did.
Unusual because we’re usually one of the first ones on the trail at 4am,
and it wasn’t even 3:30 when we’d started.

Small tangent: The hiker was wearing bear bells, but I saw
him before I heard him. Well before I heard him, and it was dark and
night. I’m not sure how effective they
actually are in practice. Maybe they
give off a sound bears can hear better than humans? At any rate, it’s the first time I’ve seen a
hiker in our area hike with bells.

As we hiked in the dark the summit light was quite
bright: more intense than I’ve ever seen
it before. At times I mistook it for the
moon, but I noticed there was no moon.
It must have set early or have been hidden behind the trees.

We took off our jackets about 15 minutes into the hike
because it was warm. Every now and then
we’d get a current of air that would pass us.
Sometimes it was cold air, others it was warm. With it came a change in scents as well. We could smell the pine trees, the scent of
vanilla, and smoke from the Hayden Pass Fire in Fremont.

As the sun began to rise we could see Pikes Peak (and the
summit house). There was a dusting of
snow on the mountain from a storm the day before.

Around MM4 it got briskly cold and we all put on our jackets
again. I wished I’d brought gloves, and
by Barr Camp I’d lost all feeling in my fingers. We made it there at 6:20am, which meant it’d
taken us 3 hours to hike a little over 6 miles.
2mph is an average hiking speed.
Not great, but not bad either.

I told the boys to make sure they ate something to keep up
their energy. Nathan informed me he hadn’t
brought along any food. I groaned
inwardly and offered him my trail mix.
He could have anything but the mangoes… they’re a vice of mine.

We set out again to hike towards the A-frame. We met a lot of hikers along the trail. One man told us this was his 4^th
14ner in the past week! Wow! That’s commitment! We stopped and talked with a few hikers who
said they were from Canada. Apparently
they were with a group of 75 hikers, all from Canada. Their post is in Colorado Springs and they
make this a yearly activity. For most of
them it was their first time, but a few had summited before.

I talked to every single person we passed (or who passed us),
and made sure to tell them this was my 4^th time hiking Pikes Peak
this month. Thomas corrected me and said
in the past 5 weeks (apparently month sounded like July only, and since it was
the 15^th that statement wasn’t true). He then asked me why I was bragging so
much. I admitted that yes, I was
bragging, but that wasn’t the only reason I mentioned my hiking success: I wanted to give the hikers something to
remember me by. If something happened to
us and we got lost or hurt, etc. they would remember our group by my statement just
as I remember the hiker who’d hiked 4-14ners was wearing a blue shirt and
orange hiking shoes. He’d given me something
to remember him by, and if asked, I’d be able to recall where I saw him on the
trail and at what time. It’s a survival
technique for hikers. The boys didn’t
seem too impressed with my reasoning.

At about mile 8 we saw a really cool Sphinx Moth. It was very big, and looked like it’d just
emerged because it was fanning its wings as if it were drying them out. It was also walking up the trunk of the tree
while doing so. Very cool!

We made it the 3 miles to the A-frame at 7:50am, which meant
we were now hiking at 1.5mph. That’s not
a fast pace. As long as we kept moving
forward we’d be fine. The boys wanted a
break and I let them have one. Thomas
wanted a 2 hour break, to which I said that was unreasonable. We stayed at the A-frame for about 20 minutes
(way too long for me, not nearly enough time for him). You’d think Thomas would have wanted to sit
for his break, but instead he was throwing snowballs.

The area looked really cool.
Yesterday’s storm had brought hail mixed with snow and it had frozen
overnight. It was all very pretty.

This part of the hike took what felt like forever but I’d
told myself to be patient and let the boys have as many breaks as they
needed. We didn’t see as many marmots as
I’ve gotten used to seeing (maybe 2 or 3) and even though there was a dusting
of snow I couldn’t hear the usual running water below the rocks or see the
small streams that usually followed the trail.
We stopped for a bit at the Cirque and enjoyed the view. They also ate the rest of my trail mix
(Thomas had run out before making it to the A-frame and was now sharing with
Nathan).

Thomas and I summited at 10:40am, just as a train was
arriving. I gave Thomas money to run
ahead and buy donuts while I waited for Nathan.
He wasn’t far behind us (probably 30 steps or so), but once that train
unloaded the food line would be horrendous.
Thomas also bought a Gatorade, Nachos, and French fries.

As I waited for Nathan a man walked up to me and asked if I
was with the Canada group. He was giving
the hikers from Canada water and snacks when they summited.

“No, but I passed a bunch of them on the way up” I
replied. This seemed to tick him off
royally, and he walked away in a huff and proceeded to ignore me for the rest
of my wait. I honestly hadn’t meant to
offend him. Canadians. Eh.

We sat at a booth outside (they run the heaters inside the
summit house so hot it’s unbearable) and people watched for about 20
minutes. There are always a
disproportionate number of Mennonites at the summit. Pikes Peak must be on the “top 10 list of
things for Mennonites to do” because they always seem to be therein large
numbers. They never make eye contact or say much, and you can tell they make
their own clothes. They never look
happy.

I reminded the boys to fill up their water bottles at the
drinking fountain, used the restroom, and we were on our way. It’s not a good
idea to spend too much time at the summit:
It’s hard to breathe so your body is working very hard even if you’re
resting. We also needed to get down
before afternoon storms hit. So we took some pictures and began our
descent.

Unfathomably, Nathan was hiking slower down than he had on
the way up! It was maddening so I put
him at the front of the group. He walked
a little faster, but not much.

The miles had me thinking:
I get frustrated with hiking slow, and with slow hikers in general. I know it’s not a competition to get to the top,
but to me everything tends to be. I’m
trained for a hike like this, and not many people are. I don’t need to take breaks or slow
down. I just keep going. Whoever I hike with is going to be slower
than I am. I need to take this into consideration
and just be happy I’m on the trail. This
is what I’d told myself before even setting out today, yet here I was
internally grumbling because I was with a slow hiker(s). I understood at the time it wasn’t fair for
me to be upset with him, yet I was having a hard time letting go of the
frustration I was feeling at our hiking speed.

Once again my mind turned to thought: Was I burning as many calories hiking slow
as I was fast? I didn’t think so. Hiking
26 miles in 11 hours had to burn more calories than hiking 26 miles in 16
hours, even though it was the same distance.
I’d need to look it up and do the math problem when I got home. I was pretty sure the net calorie burn would
be more while hiking fast even though hiking slower would mean I’d be hiking for
a longer period of time. I felt I was
cheating myself out of burning calories and wasting time doing so.

I made it a point of talking to every group/person we saw
hiking up as we were hiking down. I didn’t
mention my previous summits, but did give them realistic expectations about timing
and difficulty of the hike to the peak, and made sure they all had enough
water. It’s an intense hike. That mountain kills people, and I wanted to
be sure they knew what they were in for.

We made it back down to the A-frame at 1pm. It had taken us over 2 hours to go 3 miles. Downhill.
I was used to practically jogging this part of the trail, and here we
were hiking slower down than we had up!
And now the boys wanted another break.

We took one and looked at the weather. There seemed to be a storm rolling in. The clouds were building quickly, and you
never quite know if it will storm or pass you by. After about 20 minutes I encouraged them to
get moving again, and against their wishes they did.

The pace didn’t improve.
I asked Nathan if he wanted pain killers, to which he replied “yes but I
just ran out of water so I can’t drink them down.”

Ugh! We still had 9
miles to go! He’d neglected to fill up
his water bottle at the top. So had
Thomas (he had enough to make it down on his own and didn’t refill). Once again I shared with Nathan. I mentioned it would take us 9 hours at this
pace to make it back to the car, and that seemed to get him hiking a little
faster.

At 3pm we made it to Barr Camp. The boys crashed by the creek.

They were hungry and ate the nachos Thomas
had bought at the summit. I hadn’t
packed more food because honestly I’d thought we’d have been back at the car by
now. Two weeks ago when I went hiking
with Tristina we’d started an hour later in the morning, and even with my
injury had made it back to the car by 3pm.

Here we were with over 6 miles still to hike and it was
already 3pm. When the boys asked me how
much longer it was going to take I told them it would depend on them. They were hiking slow and taking very long breaks. No one else on the trail was taking breaks,
let alone sitting down for 15-20 minutes at a time. I wondered what bad habits the Boy Scout
leaders had let them get into at Philmont, and told them they needed to start
really hiking in order to make it back at a reasonable hour. Besides, we couldn’t eat until we made it
back. Yes, I was hungry and cranky. I wasn’t mean, but I’d honestly expected with
our early start to have been much closer to home at this point

This seemed to get them going. Nathan picked up his pace, and besides Thomas
“crashing” at MM4 we made pretty good progress.
In fact, I’d wished we’d hiked this fast he entire trip! Food seemed to be an appropriate motivation
technique.

We found some wild strawberries along the way (I encouraged
the boys to try some), and lots of Pinedrops (which Thomas seemed to think were
mushrooms because of a book at Grammies house.
I assured them they were not).

I took a picture of the boys once we made it back to the
trailhead at 6pm. They were exhausted
but glad to have made it! They
immediately went to the back of the truck, looking for the cooler of
sodas. They apparently forgot to bring
that as well. It was sitting on the
counter when we got home.

We saw an ambulance in the parking lot when we arrived at
the trailhead. It turns out two people
at Barr Camp had called in for help due to exhaustion. We must have passed them
at some point, but hadn’t recalled anyone who looked like they may be in need
of help anytime soon. One could walk out
but the other had to be carried out on a litter. Had they not read the sign?!?!?!? They were 6.5 miles in on a trail that wasn’t
passable by vehicle and wanted help because they were tired? Wow.

Both boys immediately fell asleep as soon as I started the
truck. Once we got home and for the next
few hours the boys sat on the couch and ate (watermelon, pizza, etc.). I ended up going to bed before Nathan left
(they and Rebecca were deep into band stories when I fell asleep).

Rock Pond Trail

One of my goals this year is to go on new hikes. I knew I wanted to take a new route on this camping trip, but I wasn’t sure which one to take. I ended up settling on the Rock Pond trail, mainly because it included destinations of two new ponds I’d yet to visit, and it had the option of looping around Geer Pond, a favorite of mine.

It was a couple of miles from the campsite, so I took the truck to the trailhead. While there I took a picture of the map to log my time and just so I’d be sure to have one while on the trail. As I was looking at it I realized the map wouldn’t be of much use: it was facing the wrong way! You’d think they’d have been smarter than that when posting a map. Luckily I know the area, but to someone who doesn’t, they’d get all turned around…

The hike was all downhill to the pond (about 2.5 miles one way) and followed a service road. I was the only one on the trail… except for a white tailed deer I saw walking slowly towards me from the opposite direction. She didn’t seem to notice me for a while, but once she did she bounded off the trail and was gone in a second.

I spent this part of the hike musing to myself as I followed the trail downward. I thought for some time about my love for hiking: which is considerably more enjoyable while alone.

Most thoughts centered around the kids, their lives, and how I fit into them. This may seem like a simple task, but honestly, it’s not. I’m questioning my role in Rebecca’s life specifically. She’s graduated High School, and is off to college next month (but still living at home). She doesn’t have a job, and I’ve been strongly pushing her to get one. She doesn’t seem interested in this. In fact, she doesn’t seem interested in much (therein lies the problem). I’m wondering how to motivate her, if that’s even something I should be doing (or should I just let her figure it out on her own), and how I’ll be able to “kick her out” when she turns 18 and doesn’t have a job (something that will happen if she’s not employed).

She’s begun complaining about everything that doesn’t have to do with guard (something she’s willing to drive hours away to participate in), and none of her hobbies have money earning potential. She feels distanced from former close friends, and honestly needs direction. However, I don’t feel she wants to take it from me. Personally I’m feeling as if I’ve lost my best friend, as now I actually have to play the “mom” part in our relationship. Neither of us is enjoying this much. I want my best friend back!

No one tells you the hardest part of parenting is letting them go to figure life out on their own.

I made it to the section of the trail that let me choose between going to Rock Pond or Brook Pond. I love to hike and the weather was hovering around a nice 90 degrees with no chance of thunderstorms, so this was an easy choice for me. I’d visit both.

I’m so glad I did! I only added less than half a mile to the hike, but some really cool experiences!

I found some wild strawberries on the trail. I’ve found strawberries while hiking before, but never quite so many! Usually I see one here and there… this time I saw small “fields” of strawberries in several spots along the hillside So cool!

They looked a bit overripe, so I tried a few. They tasted amazing! Warm from the sun they were hands down the best strawberries I’ve ever had (if a bit small…)

I grabbed a few to add flavor to my drink and some to bring back to the kids at the campsite, and headed down to Brook Pond.

The pond was small, but clear. I could see lots of trout swimming near the shore, and a few jumping in the middle. Most were only about the size of my hand, too small to “catch”, but knowing they were there gave hope to future fishing opportunities. This was a pond I’d swim in if I’d had the proper gear…

I circled the water and came to a small stream feeding the pond. I figure this was the perfect time to try out the water-proofness of my new hiking boots, and crossed in a mucky area. They passed the test!

Knowing I was close to Rock Pond I decided to continue on and take a break there. It only took about 10 minutes of walking to get there. This pond looked deeper than the previous, colder, and not quite as inviting. I didn’t see any fish.

I sat for a few minutes, enjoyed the cherries I’d brought for lunch, then was quickly on my way. It was 1pm and I wanted to get back to the kids before they worried.

I decided to take the trail that went by Geer Pond, mainly because I didn’t want to hike back up that service road. I’d much rather make it a loop than hike back from where I’d already been. Once again, another great choice!

Almost immediately the trail sloped upward at quite a steep angle. This made sense: I’d come down the entire way here, which meant I had to hike up at some point to make it back to the trailhead. I saw some Columbine flowers along the trail. I love seeing Columbines while hiking!

After about a mile (that passed quickly) I came across some small waterfalls, hidden inside small rock caves. They looked cool and inviting, and I wished I’d had a handkerchief to get wet in the water. Or a book. I needed to spend more time here, and I absolutely need to bring the kids here to “play” sometime soon!

These waterfalls lasted for about a quarter of a mile, then all of the sudden, I was at the back end of Geer Pond! I knew this because I’d played with the kids in this waterfall a few times before!

I found a few cool flowers: Alpine Kittentails

and then I was at Geer Pond. No one was at this pond either. All weird since it was about 1:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday in July. I kept thinking the entire time what fun it would be to snowshoe these trails!

Lost Pond was a bit of a disappointment. It seemed murkier than usual. There were some really large salamanders that were fun to watch however. And lots of flies. I didn’t stay long.

The hike out took about another half an hour. I made it to the trailhead at 2pm, which made it a 2 hour hike. I covered just over 5 miles, and stopped a bit to enjoy nature, so I considered it a success!

Trail Trouble

I was in desperate need of new hiking boots. Seriously.

Let me start at the beginning (kind of). I’ve had the same hiking shoes for the past… um… well, since… I’m pretty sure I bought them the summer of 2003 but it was so long ago I can’t really remember.

They’ve been on many adventures and treks. I’ve worn them on all of the highest peaks of Southern California (Mt. San Gorgonio, Mt. San Jacinto, Mt. San Antonio) as well as mountains all throughout Arizona and Colorado. I wore them at the Santa Rosa Plateau for many years, hiking 5 miles a day. Basically whenever I’ve gone hiking I’ve worn them.

Except for Pikes Peak. Since there’s often snow at the summit I’ve traditionally worn my Sorels. They are great boots, but very, very heavy. I usually have bruises from where they wrap around my ankle by the time I’m done hiking. Still, they’ve been worth it because they keep my feet warm and dry (which is a serious concern of mine).

This time I didn’t want to wear the extra weight. We were doing a day hike, there was no snow (or very little), and I wanted to go light. I so I wore my trusty hiking shoes.

This ended up being a really bad idea. From the start I could tell the traction had worn off to the point where they provided no resistance against slipping. I was slipping and sliding even while hiking uphill. I decided to be careful and promised myself I’d invest in some quality hiking boots as soon as I got back home. I’ve been saving up for some anyway. Now seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We summited in record time and headed back down. The entire way back down my shoes were slipping and sliding on the small pieces of granite littering the trail. Numerous times I caught myself before falling. A few times I narrowly escaped a fall by steadying myself with my hiking pole.

About half a mile after Barr Camp (mile 20 or so into our trek), I slipped and went to catch myself with my pole. However, the pole collapsed upon itself and I went flying into the dirt. Immediately upon impact I knew it was bad. I picked myself up and kept walking/limping/hopping forward. My hiking partner Tristina looked at me like she was scared I’d really injured myself, and I told her to “just keep going just keep going don’t stop”. I may have said it a bit harshly and apologized later.

Since I knew it was bad and we were still about 6 miles from the end of the trail I just needed to keep moving forward. I know the proper thing to have done would have been to stop, assess the damage, clean the wound, etc. but I didn’t. I told Tristina that’s what I should have done, and it’s what I expect the girls to do during Reach for the Peak, but in this instance I needed to keep walking. I was seriously afraid if I stopped I wouldn’t be able to start again (lactic acid after such a hike can stop you in your tracks and I didn’t want to get stuck).

I focused on trying to suck out the small pieces of dirt and sand that had lodged themselves into my palm. I was pretty sure I was going to have to cut the extra skin off so they wouldn’t get stuck in there when the skin grew back. In case you were wondering, I kept slipping (due to my shoes) but I didn’t fall again.

About a mile and a half down the trail I paused for a second, stayed standing, and took a look at the damage through the gaping hole in my brand new Colombia Trekking Pants. Yes, it was bad. There were 3 puncture points where I’m assuming I was impaled by granite pebbles, as well as abrasions along my knee (a full blown skinned knee). There didn’t seem to be any rocks still under my skin, but there was quite a bit of blood. And white blobs about ¼ inch thick I was assuming were subcutaneous layers of tissue folding near the puncture points. I was hoping the blood would coagulate while I was walking the trail. What was left of my pant leg was covering potential dirt/dust from the trail, so I kept it on and just lifted it up every 100 feet or so to keep it from sticking to the blood.

Yes, I was in pain, but I still had another 5 miles to go so I didn’t stop. I also didn’t drink water. I know what you’re thinking: that’s stupid while you’re hiking! You need to drink! Yes, but I was also in a bit of shock and didn’t want to throw up (that’s what happens when you give shock victims water: it comes back up). Interestingly enough, I wasn’t craving water anyway.

We made really good time the last few miles, despite my injury. We were even passing people on the trail. We reached the trailhead and I took off the lower part of my pant leg (they zipped off below the knee). Yes, there was a lot of blood but it looked like it’d stopped bleeding. A couple of people noticed and asked if I needed help, to which I replied no. I had this. I just needed to get home and clean it up. I was pretty sure I’d need a couple of stitches.

We got in the car and began the slow drive back home. It was a Saturday afternoon and we were driving through Manitou Springs. Basically what I’m saying is it took about 30 minutes to go 3 miles.

As we neared the freeway I made the mistake of looking down at my knee. It hadn’t looked too bad while I was standing, but when I sat it must have opened up the wound(s), because now it was bleeding. Not normal bleeding where dark red blood runs down in like a teardrop, but thick, contained, bright red blobs of oozing blood contained around the puncture site. Wonderful. That meant the punctures were deep. It also threw me into a deeper state of shock. I actually felt like I was going to throw up and had to move over to the side of the freeway to steady myself and breathe deeply for a few seconds. Don’t get me wrong, I’m ok with the sight of blood. What set me off was thinking of a doctor putting a needle into the wound to numb it before giving me stitches. That I couldn’t handle. I have a pretty creative imagination, and it went in circles from there.

I told myself to “cut it out” and formed a plan. I needed to get home and clean the wound before I could make any judgments about treatment. I was able to walk wasn’t I? And I was driving. I knew nothing was sprained/broken. I drove home slower than I should have, but knowing I was in shock I wanted to be extra careful and didn’t want to cause an accident. 55mph in a 60mph zone isn’t my normal routine, but I was being cautious.

Yes, I hit every red light, and no, I didn’t plan it that way.

I pulled into the driveway and slowly crawled out of the truck. I’d come up with a “plan” on the drive home I was hoping would have some success: My neighbor is a Green Beret. A medic to be exact. Maybe he had some of that super glue stitching stuff they use for wounds on the battlefield. It was worth a try, so I limped over to his house. He wasn’t home. Drat.

On my way back down the driveway Rebecca drove up, saw me limping (and the blood), and her eyes got wide. I just walked inside. She asked me how it happened and I said I slipped on the trail. She asked me if it was because of the shoes. Apparently she’d had the same issue on the hike last week (yes, we share shoes). She’d been slipping all over the place as well. That gave me somewhat of a better feeling. I was legitimately able to blame it on the shoes and their lack of traction and not my hiking abilities. Rebecca had independently confirmed the fact the traction on them was terrible.

However that didn’t solve the problem. I needed to clean the wound, and I figured the easiest way to do so would be with a bath. I’ll spare you the details, but 45 minutes later the wounds were clean and I could see the damage. Indeed I had 3 puncture wounds, but only one needed stitches, and only one or two at that. Due to the skin fold caused at the puncture site I was pretty sure stitches wouldn’t help much and the skin would probably need to be cut which would make stitches impossible (I was going to have a fun scar either way), so I resolved to just treat it myself.

I bandaged it up, took some pain killers with a beer, and went about the rest of my day cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry before falling into bed early.

The next day I went about my usual routine. Yes, I went to the gym and ran 6 miles. Well, I ran 5, tried to get on the bike, was unsuccessfully able to move my knee in the manner necessary to pedal, and ran another mile to make up for it. You see, my knee was fine in the walking position, but not so much in the bent position riding a bike requires.

I talked with my yoga instructor, and she agreed I could go to class as long as I did some modifications. I was seriously surprised with how well I did… it may have been the Vicodin.

Side note: I still have most of the Vicodin prescribed to me by my doctor from all 3 of the c-sections I’ve had. I don’t want to become addicted to medications, so I just took the minimum necessary to get me through the pain, then I stored the rest. Yes, 17+ years later the medication still works. Don’t let anyone tell you medication like Vicodin “goes bad”. It doesn’t. They just want to get you to buy it again (or throw it away so it doesn’t get into the wrong hands).

OK, I know you’re probably thinking “why don’t you just rest?”

I need my knee to heal, but I need it to heal in the way I’m used to using it. If I just sit around all day I’ll go insane for one, but my knee will heal stiff and I’ll have to “work it in” again. Notice I’m not completely crazy: I wasn’t able to exercise on the bike and I stopped. I’m not going to make my body do anything it can’t, but I’m not going to let something like this stop me from being active. Remember, it’s not sprained or broken…

Anyway, I went out and bought new hiking boots. There’s no way I’m going to let myself get into such a situation again. I truly believe the shoes caused the problem, and knowing the cause meant I needed to fix the problem. Salomons were highly recommended by several thru hikers, and one even told me he stood in ankle deep water in them for some time and came away with dry feet (they are waterproof). So now I’m wearing them everywhere to break them in before hiking again next week.

BTW, my knee and other various cuts and bruises from the fall are healing fabulously. It’s actually kind of fascinating watching the body heal so quickly, as well as the various stages of healing (but that’s another post for another time). Yes, if I end up getting an infection I’ll go in to see a doctor.

A close up view… still bleeding/weeping, but healing nicely

OK, let the comments commence…

Summiting in the Clouds

I wasn’t sure I’d be hiking at all. I didn’t have a hiking buddy and the weather forecast wasn’t stellar, so I was debating back and forth on going. Then on Friday night Tristina text me and asked if I still wanted to go. I looked at the weather forecast (not great, but no thunderstorms), and said sure!

We woke up at 3am and were on the trail at 3:50am. We saw this Columbine growing out of a barrier at about MM2. I thought it was pretty cool, and at first didn’t think it was a real flower, but it was growing this way, and bloomed just at the opening.

We made really good time. Tristina and I hike at a similar pace, and we both intended to hike quickly. We made it to Barr Camp at 6:30am (that’s about 6.5 uphill miles in 2h 40m).

We talked to a lady I’d seen the past couple of times on the hike. Her name’s Dana. She hikes to Barr Camp in the mornings before her grandkids wake up at 9am. After some chatting, she seems like a potential hiking partner in the future. She’s summited over 40 times, and always by herself. She asked me if I knew “Larry” (I didn’t, but apparently he’s a frequent hiker too).

We could tell it’d rained last night, which made hiking a bit easier. The dust on the trails wasn’t present, and there were dew drops on the Aspen leaves.

We made it to the A-frame at 8am. It was foggy and surprisingly “green” compared to my last visit 2 weeks ago.

Our usual view of Colorado Springs was lost in the clouds…

We took a break at A-frame and then headed out again. The clouds just got thicker, and at times it began to rain. It was surreal hiking with such limited visibility. We had a hard time gauging exactly where we were on the hike. At times we’d pass a landmark and be surprised we’d reached it so quickly! I’m not sure if it was the lack of beating sunshine, lack of visibility, or lack of stopping for slower hikers, but we hiked much faster than normal.

Here’s a picture of the Cirque, a 1500 foot drop you can’t tell it there with the fog… could be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing!!!

Here’s a view of the hiking conditions:

Last time we hiked this rocky area was all under snow. It’s interesting to see what it looks like sans snow. You can also tell why we had difficulty finding our footing and experienced a lot of mini rockslides…

I had to get a video of this! It’s not great quality, and kind of hard to see due to the fog and poor visibility, but this is where we “glissaded” the first time we summited this year. I plan to get another video next time the weather’s better, but this gives you an idea of how far we went.

Here’s a picture of where we slid…

Here’s where the rain really picked up. I was so glad I’d brought my rain jacket with hood! We reached the summit at 9:57am: That’s our fastest time yet! Usually it takes about 3 hours from the A-frame to get to the summit, but it took us less than 2 hours! Total, that was over 13 miles uphill in under 6 hours. Awesome! We got there just as a train was pulling away.

When we went into the summit house it was deserted. This is the first time I’ve been there when it hasn’t been ridiculously full. We attributed it to the poor visibility at the peak, and the fact a train had just left. The only people at the Summit were those of us who’d hiked up. There were two men who’d run up (and were looking for a car-ride own), and a father son duo who’d hiked up the “easy” way (the backside, which starts at 10,000 ft elevation).

We stayed for about half an hour, then decided to hike back down. The fog was beginning to lift and while we couldn’t see Colorado Springs we were able to see further distances. I love how green it is!

We saw a few deer on the way down, right on the trail…

and one of my favorite mushrooms! They are so cool to see on the trail (no touching though)

I wasn’t sure how it would be going with just one other person, especially since she was one of my Girl Scouts and we have an adult/scout relationship, but it ended up being really enjoyable. We hike at similar speeds, and didn’t run out of things to talk about on our 11+ hour hike. I was thankful to have a hiking buddy, and to have been able to hike the peak again!

The only downside was my hiking shoes… due to lack of traction they kept slipping. They’ve lasted me 20 years, but I think it’s time to get a new pair.

Hiking Buddy?

It’s becoming an addiction, and I think I’m ok with it.

I’ve summited Pikes Peak multiple times in the past 3 years. Is it crazy I just summited Pikes Peak twice this week, I’m doing so again next month, and I’m already looking for a way to summit sooner? This time without a pack to carry supplies: I’m thinking just water, a bandana, and a few Tylenol.

I have an addictive personality, and I really love physical fitness, which includes hiking. This hike is 26 miles. 13 of which are uphill, 6 above the treeline, exposed to the elements. I don’t know of many people who can accomplish the hike in its entirety. In fact, most people who attempt it with the best intentions fail.

I’m at the point where I can look at someone and tell if they can summit or not, and how quickly. It’s brutal, but for some reason I love it! It’s a challenge, the views are amazing, and it encompasses new (sometimes demanding) experiences with wildlife, weather and nature each time I go. I’m constantly being challenged by the mountain, and I love winning.

The first time I summited this year I did so with just a backpack and a few supplies. I was amazed at how much easier it was than when I’ve done it backpacking! We practically flew up the mountain! However, I still had to bring more weight than I’d wanted because I was in charge of a group and I couldn’t let anything happen to them because I’d failed to bring necessary supplies. Yes, I realize how stupid that makes it sounds to go without said supplies.

After the hike I was sore, but continued with my normal gym routine: 10 miles a day of cardio and a 60 minute power yoga class 4 times a week. Yoga was a challenge but I breathed my way through it.

When I summited this week I led a group and brought a 40lb pack. It was much more weight than I’d wanted to bring for one night, but once again I was in charge of a group; Novices this time. I couldn’t risk anything happening to them I could have prevented.

Surprisingly however, it was easier to summit this time and I wasn’t as sore afterwards (maybe because we took so many breaks?). The only part of me that really “hurt” were my feet, and shoulders and lower back where the pack rested. I now had blisters on top of blisters of course. Other than that I was feeling pretty good, and when I went to yoga the next day I practically sailed through the class! It was one of my best yet!

That’s what really got me thinking: if I make summiting Pikes Peak a more frequent thing it should just keep getting easier, right? I wonder how quickly I could do it with less gear? And how about wearing hiking shoes instead of snow boots? I hike in Laredo’s this time of year due to the snow at the summit…. With proper hiking shoes I bet I could shave quite a bit off my time!

I posted my musings on Facebook only to have people tell me I’m crazy and not to attempt such a feat by myself. I understand the concern, but this also makes me a bit upset. I see a handful of people (in great shape and mostly men of course) running the trail on their own. I feel the trail is well traveled, and if something were to happen to me there’d be people who would notice. (In a whiney voice) I want to summit by myself too!!! I want to wear shorts and a halter top instead of warm weather gear, throw my hair up in a bun and see how fast I can make it.

I guess I just need a hiking buddy.

But I don’t WANT a hiking buddy! No one I know can keep up with me, and the whole point of this exercise is to do it for time. I’d be waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for someone to catch up. Then I’d get frustrated with them for something they couldn’t control when they were helping me in the first place… a viscous cycle!

Hmmmm…. This one needs more thought.

Troop 2393 Backpacking Pikes Peak

I don’t care how old you are, or how great of shape you’re in, Pikes Peak is a difficult hike. Strenuous. Probably the most difficult thing you will ever do in your entire life. It’s 26 grueling miles, 13 of which are uphill, 6 of which are above the treeline, exposed to the elements. It’s difficult in any condition, but Troop 2393 did it with 30lb packs!

A week before the trek I talked with the girls to let them know what they were getting into. I told them it was difficult, explained what would happen at each point in the hike, and told them they would want to give up. In fact, they’d beg me to give up. They’d curse me as well for making them continue. Did they want to summit? If so, I’d do my best to make sure they all summited. They did.

Since this was their first big hike we started out earlier than usual. I woke them up at 2am, we had our traditional muffins for breakfast they’d cooked the night before, and we were on the trail at 3:17am. The girls were really excited! We wore our headlamps around our necks instead of on our heads, and moths were attracted to us like flames. We were batting them away until the sun rose.

I knew this hike was going to be difficult almost immediately. About half a mile in the girls started complaining this was harder than they’d thought, and one of the girls was having difficulty breathing. We took many more breaks than I would have liked and for much longer periods to compensate. It took us 2 hours to go the first 2 miles (it usually takes about 45 minutes).

After the 3 mile mark everyone was back to “normal” (breathing was fine, etc.) but we still took it very slow. I was glad we’d started extra early!

We made it to Barr Camp and the girls collapsed by the stream. They were already exhausted! I tried to remind them this was difficult, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t listening…

It was 3 more miles to the A-frame, and we were in a bit of a hurry to make sure we were able to “claim” it. Otherwise we’d be sleeping in caves tonight (one of which leaks due to snow). I told myself I’d adjust the hike depending on the next 3 miles. There was a big chance we wouldn’t be summiting at all. Even with all the prep work it was much harder than they’d anticipated. Around mile 7 I had a girl pretend to faint. Yes, I’m sure she was pretending and looking for sympathy. However, she’s relatively new to the troop and didn’t realize that was the wrong game to play with me. I totally understood she felt she’d bitten off more than she could chew, but as far as I’m concerned you don’t joke around with safety. I let her know how I felt. She didn’t have any more issues after that.

Every 30 seconds or so I’d look over my shoulder to see how the girls were doing, and around mile 8 I had a girl actually faint. Right in the middle of the trail! She had been in the back of the line and none of the other girls had heard. Luckily we’d only gone about 30 feet or so. I told the girls to sit down, and ran to the one who’d fainted. Her skin was clammy and she was a bit cold. After gently tapping and nudging her a few times she woke up very confused. She didn’t remember falling. She must have done so gracefully because she wasn’t hurt at all, just confused. I’d been “pushing” water on the girls, so I knew she was hydrated, so that wasn’t the issue. Her body was just really tired. We took a long break until I was sure she was feeling better and we set off at a slower pace. I like to lead (so I’m the one who runs into that snake or slips on something), but I figured at this point we’d all take turns leading and I’d be in the back so I could watch the girls better.

It was a tough next mile, but the girls made it!!! Look at their excitement upon making it to the A-frame!

Here we took a REALLY long break. Over an hour. The girls relaxed, wrote their names on the walls to record their achievement, and consumed a lot of calories. Some girls refilled their water (filtered it), but everyone relaxed. We went over the journey so far, and the girls admitted it was harder than they’d anticipated, but (after their break) they all said they wanted to try to summit.

So we left all the gear we didn’t need in the A-frame, and set out with just the essentials to hike the remaining 3 miles to the peak.

I knew this was going to be challenging for them, so I tried to think of a game to keep their minds off the difficulty. Most of the girls had never seen a marmot before, so I asked them to count how many they saw. Some we may have counted twice and I’m sure there were some we missed, but we ended up counting between 40-50 marmots! They make a really annoying chirping sound…

After the first half mile the complaints began again. I had one girl adamant she no longer wanted to do this. She’d brought her cell phone, and wanted to call her mom to come get her (as if that were even a possibility at 12,500 feet 11 miles from the car). I’m 95% sure she was texting her mom at this time, telling her what an awful person I was. However, I’ve done this hike many times, and I know this behavior is “normal” at this point in the hike, so I encouraged her to continue. I knew there’d be more nasty comments to come, and I knew while only one (or two) girls would actually say they were tired, wanted to stop, couldn’t breathe, etc., everyone was thinking the same thing. This is the part of the hike where I get to be the “bad guy” in the nicest way possible, encouraging them to continue. Some of them said they really didn’t want to continue, but I knew how upset they’d be if they gave up, so I kept cheering them on. After all, if it was easy everyone would do it and there wouldn’t be bragging rights!

Since a lot of the trail was covered in snow and we had to get creative to continue climbing. We looked like we really knew what we were doing, and had several first timers follow us on the hike. It’s really cool to have things like this happen!

The changing point to the hike came about a mile and a half from the summit. At this point the “complainers” realized I wasn’t giving in, and this is also where a lot of the trail was covered in snow. The girls had to be very careful and work together to navigate the trail. I guess for them this is when it became fun!

Make no mistake, they were still sore and tired, but from here on out they trudged on without my constant encouragement and even seemed to enjoy the experience.

The small streams on the trail were fun to navigate as well. The girls asked me to take this picture for fun!

Once we made it to the Cirque (just under a mile from the summit) the trail became unnavigable. No worries: I did this hike last week. All we needed to do was head towards the “16 Golden Stairs” sign and then head straight up to the summit. It was difficult, but the girls seemed to have fun! We had another first timer follow us on this route as well.

The final push to the summit was really hard, but not one of the girls complained even once! It was as if a switch had been turned on, they all realized how close they were, and they WANTED to summit. It wasn’t easy: we had to scramble on the rocks and make our own trail.

About halfway to the top from where the rock scrambling started someone shouted “Look! Bighorn Sheep!” Indeed, there were 3 bighorn sheep traversing the ridge next to us! They were robust, confident animals. We watched them until they were out of sight (about 5 minutes). As an added bonus it was a nice break! The girls commented on how they made rock climbing look easy!

After about 20 more minutes of losing our footing, cheering each other on, and mini-rockslides we made it to the summit!

We tried to stay a good distance apart from each other to minimize rock slide injuries, so the girls who made it first waited for everyone to get to the top before all holding hands and crossing the cog tracks together. This was their idea: I love these ladies!!!

The girls were all smiles, enthusiastic, and PROUD of themselves! They were glad they’d continued on, and celebrating their personal and physical victories.

We immediately went inside the summit house and got donuts and fudge. The girls commented how only hikers who’d summited should be allowed such luxuries… They’d EARNED it!

After a break of about 15 minutes we went outside for pictures.

Emily truly wanted a picture with me to show she’d hiked Pikes Peak. Her smile was all the thanks I needed!

You expend a LOT of energy just breathing at 14,000+ feet, so it’s dangerous to spend too much time at the top. Adding to that it was starting to get cold and the girls wanted dinner.

After the fun of last week getting down the mountain we decided this time to go down the same way we’d gone up. I explained to the girls how to keep their center of gravity low while navigating, and we began our decent.

It was slow going the first half mile or so for safety reasons, but after that we practically skipped back to the A-frame, high fiving ourselves the entire way. The girls were a bit upset we hadn’t “glissaded” so we found a safe place to do so. On purpose.

Dinner was terrible. We had Mountain House backpacking meals, and I’m not sure if it was the altitude or how they were prepared, but the consistency was either way too watery or not watery enough. They tasted OK, so the girls with extra watery meals added their ramen and were fine with that. Apparently it was an improvement for the ramen!

Samantha and Olivia were in charge of the fire. Check out what an awesome job they did! One match!

I’m REALLY GLAD we were the first ones there because there was serious competition! At least three other groups were interested in sleeping in the frame that night, but luckily had brought back-up tents as well. We made several friends at the A-frame, and invited them to join us in our fire.

Although this was the warmest night I’ve ever spent at the A-frame the girls all said they had trouble sleeping because it was so cold. We all set our alarms to watch the sunrise, but due to the fires in the area it was difficult to appreciate, so we all went back to bed.

At 7:30am we got up and quickly dressed. We were running out of food and needed to get back down the mountain. We ate our cheerios as we descended. While better than the hike up, the hike down was still a challenge. It was hot, the girls were tired and very sore. We had blisters on top of blisters, and needed frequent breaks.

We stopped about 6 times each mile to rest, and every 3 miles we took an extended break and took off our packs. However, at the 1.5 mile mark the girls got their second wind, asked if we could stop taking breaks, and booked it the rest of the way down. They were exhausted and excited to be done with the hike! I told them to pose for this picture describing how their bodies were aching at this point… They have blisters on top of blisters, and I know every muscle in their bodies ache, but they should be proud!!!

Congratulations Ladies!

Pictures of the journey can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Girl-Scout-Troop-2393-130509316441/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10153424760671442

Pikes Peak Summit Sticker can be bought here

Saving Ourselves

Let me start by saying these girls were prepared for this hike. They’d backpacked this trail multiple times before, and were even nominated by Search and Rescue to earn the Red Cross Lifesaving award for rescuing hikers on this trail on another occasion. They received that award. They also train for and participate in an outdoor survival skills competition every year. They are experienced, in great physical condition, “pumped” about going on the hike, and I know them and their personalities well. I trusted their abilities.

For those of you who worry, don’t. Everyone made it out ok without any injuries that needed more than moleskin and a few Tylenol.

As always the girls spent the night at my house the evening before the hike. They made blueberry muffins for breakfast the next morning, and stayed up way too late giggling. I checked the weather forecast for the next day: 83-90 degrees with no chance of rain. AWESOME!!! We’re always worried about thunderstorms above the treeline. We were so excited it wasn’t going to be an issue this time. We woke up at 3am and were in the parking lot by 3:55am.

The parking lot was pretty empty, except for two large passenger vans. As I was paying for parking I overheard a director surrounded by about 20 people talking about how they were all going to hike to the top today, and their goal was to do so by noon. He prayed for God to bless their bodies and journey. I thought a few things:How cool for a church group to hike Pikes Peak!

· They do NOT look prepared for a hike like this. They are in shorts and none of them look like “hikers”

· Making it to the top by noon was overly ambitious

· I wanted to get a start before they did because passing them would take forever!

I quickly paid for parking and ran back to the truck. We grabbed our gear, turned on our headlamps, and got going. I said a positive “Good Luck!” to one of the church ladies preparing to hike (she seemed confused when she noticed I wasn’t with her group), and we were on our way before 4am.

We’ve hiked Pikes Peak before, but this was the first time we’d done so with small packs carrying just water. We have always backpacked with 30lb packs, so this was a treat! We made great time! We hiked the first two miles in about 40 minutes (which is amazing, considering it’s all uphill). As always, we enjoyed the view. No matter how many times I try, I can’t capture the beauty. I need a special camera.

The hike up to Barr Camp was pretty uneventful. The first 3 miles of incline are the hardest, and then the next 3 are gently sloping. No long breaks were needed beyond shedding layers (it was getting warm, and we were sweating). We saw various new flowers that aren’t in bloom when we usually hike in July or August, as well as a caterpillar nest.

We made it to Barr Camp at 6am (6.5 miles in 2 hours) and had a heavy snack.

Most of the campers there were just waking up. One man came up to us and asked about the conditions of the trail. He said hikers came back yesterday saying the snow was up to their thighs in areas and they weren’t able to summit. They kept losing the trail and getting stuck in snow, but said you could get pretty far if you “kept going left” and asked if that sounded right?

I told him it made sense, but we had crampons, so we weren’t too worried. His concerned reply: “I wasn’t worried about you, I was worried about making it myself. Do you think I can make it?” I thought this was hilarious! I initially thought he was looking out for us, but he was really worried about himself and his abilities. Apparently we looked like we knew what we were doing. He was worried he wouldn’t be able to find the trail, so I gave him some pointers.

Around the 8 mile mark we saw patches of ice on the trail. Right in the middle of the trail to be exact.

It was 1 more mile to the A-frame, and at this point we were feeling pretty good. It was so much easier hiking with just water! We made it by 8:30am and took a look around. It was not as green as it usually is (probably too soon in the season), but otherwise it was cleaner than normal (kind of… still some trash here and there). We were met by a marmot living under the frame and a young buck! SO cool! We never see deer at 11,500 feet!

Just as we were getting ready to leave a man came down the trail. He looked like an experienced hiker, so we talked with him a bit about the trail conditions. We asked him if he’d summited yet, and he said he hadn’t. He’d been trying for the past 4 weeks, but there was always too much snow. Last week the A-frame had 4 feet of snow around it. He was hoping to summit today. He also said he’d seen the church group at about 6am near the top of the incline…it had taken them 2 hours to hike 2 miles. There was NO WAY they were going to summit today, but they still seemed to think they could. They had driven in from Oklahoma at 10pm the night before the hike. The girls and I had flashbacks of saving those hikers form Kansas, and mentally prepared ourselves to help if necessary.

We said our goodbyes and continued with our hike around 9am. Immediately after the A-frame we lost the trail due to snow. There wasn’t snow covering the ground completely, but huge piles of it covering large parts of the trail. We knew which way to go, but it was under too much snow to traverse.

We could see large switchbacks further up the mountain, so we decided to just head straight for those and continue with the trail there. Normally I am completely against going off trail and creating new ones, but we really had no choice: there wasn’t a trail to follow. We could see where other hikers had attempted to go up, and tried to follow their tracks where possible (all in the snow, so we weren’t trampling ground cover). If we found the trail we took it until it was buried in snow again. Many times we “made our own trail” over the previous one.

We got really good at confidently making our own solid tracks in the very slippery snow. You see, the problem was we had no way of knowing how deep the snow was. As you can see by the picture below, one step I was on solid ground. The next I sank to my waist, and was only able to get out because my right foot was in a stable position. There’s no telling how far I’d have sunk if I hadn’t had one foot in a solid position. Yes, I was scared the first time this happened!

Adding to this was the water. Water trickles down from Pikes Peak into rivulets and small streams, then continues past the A-frame down the mountain. Some of them run below the rocks, others above. These streams can be heard the entire time you’re above treeline. You can see them at points, but you can always hear them. We knew there was water flowing below us, but we never knew if it was under snow or rocks. We’d be in trouble if it was under the snow and we fell in!

There were times when I had to make our own tracks and could see hoof prints in the snow. I followed those tracks, trusting the Bighorn Sheep or Mountain Goat that had made them…

Did I mention the Marmots? We saw more marmots this trip than I’ve ever seen before, and they were quite fluffy…

There tracks were everywhere too… Adorable!

We eventually found a way to a switchback leading to the Cirque. Notice how hard I’m breathing? It’s really hard to breathe at 13,000+ feet!

Just after the Cirque we followed the trail until we found the 1 mile mark, where it completely disappeared. We could see the “16 Golden Stairs” sign, so we made our way towards it. At this point we had to completely abandon the trail and just hike straight up. There weren’t footprints to follow, or any sign indicating which way we should go. We knew how the trail usually bends, but due to snow were unable to get to those spots. We also knew we wouldn’t be damaging any groundcover because it was all rocks.

It was like rock climbing on ice! Except there were no footholds, so we had to make our own. And there was nothing to hold onto except for our hiking poles and the holds we made before lifting ourselves up. And there were a lot of unstable rocks hiding below the snow causing minor rock fall avalanches. It was really scary and slippery, but the girls confidently made their own trail. Oh, and crampons for the win! Those things are amazing!

We summited at 12pm. It had taken us 3 hours from the A-frame, the normal time is usually does, but not in the traditional fashion.

Side note: The man we met at the A-frame was with a group of about 10 male hikers. They followed our footprints, so basically we made the trail for them. They didn’t have crampons so they were unable to summit.

We summited about 20 seconds before a cog train arrived, so we booked it inside the summit house to grab a table. We got donuts!!! I’ve summited Pikes Peak several times, and this is the first the donut machine has been working. I celebrated!

We collapsed at a table to take a well-deserved break. That hike was insane! We were so proud of ourselves! We had never done anything like what we just did: blazing our own trail and climbing through ice and snow for 3 miles up the face of Pikes Peak!

We also noted how scary we must have looked to everyone else there arriving from the train: you know, the ones wearing makeup with their hair curled.

As we sat there a “Park Ranger” (I’m not really sure that’s an official title, but there’s always a guy in a park ranger uniform at the summit house) came up and asked us if we’d hiked up. When we told him we had, he said we were the first this season! Woot! He then asked us if we’d be hiking back down (instead of taking the train) and told us to be careful: The other day he had someone lose their backpack looking over the edge and it slid 1500 feet down the slope.

A bathroom stop was on the agenda, but the line for the bathroom was longer than the line for fudge (which had about 30 people in it) so we decided to book it down the trail and go at the A-frame instead.

We went outside for a few pictures. Everyone who talked with us was super impressed we’d hiked up the mountain. See how proud we are? The person taking the picture noted the awesome rain shower in the background…

We’d just been through a very intense hike, and came up without a proper trail. This time we were at the summit and knew where the trail down started, so we decided to descend using the trail as intended. The “park ranger” was standing at the edge where we’d summited, presumably discouraging people from taking that way down. All routes from the top looked impassable, but we knew if we could just get past the snow we’d be able to find our route down. After all, the snow wasn’t “everywhere” as there were patches of rocks in between, and we’d made it up, hadn’t we?

We hiked for about 40 feet and knew immediately hiking down was not the same as hiking up.

This is where I need to pause a moment and let you know how we got into the situation that put us at risk. I am a serious photographer (intense hobby). Much to the disappointment of my children I take pictures of everything. I am rarely seen without a camera in my hand, and indeed summited Pikes Peak this trip one handed (with my Canon Rebel in my left hand… yes, I got a scratch on the lens from a falling rock, but it was worth it). In addition, there was no room in my backpack to hold my camera, so I had to keep it around my neck.

Remember that picture from before where one foot was level, and the other sunk to my waist in the snow? Well, that happened just as we were descending, except instead of catching myself I was off balance (due to my camera) and slid one foot first, one sideways, 600 feet down the face of Pikes Peak. Things going through my head at this time:

· This is bad

· Don’t start turning! Do whatever you can to stay upright and don’t tip over!

· Don’t scare the girls! Keep calm. Talk to them as you’re going down to let them know you’re not scared and that you’re ok. “I’m sliding down, just wait a bit, ok?”

· Find a way to slow down!!!

· I’m not slowing down, try something else!!!

· This is really, really bad.

About 600 feet later I was able to slow myself down by making a large “V” with my legs and came to a stop just before a rock outcropping. I’d lost my hiking pole about 1/3 of the way down (my first attempt at stopping was to try and anchor myself… the hiking pole stayed where it was).

At this point I was scared. That “glissade” was NOT on purpose, and now I was separated by my girls by 600 feet. Not for long however, for they decided to follow me, and without thinking I encouraged them:

I hadn’t fully processed the situation when they started, and encouraged them on. I didn’t want them to know how scared I was, but I also realized there was no other way for us to make it down the mountain: we could not go up. We had to go down or stay where we were, which wasn’t an option.

Note: I don’t have pictures of everything from this point on because there were times when our safety was much more important than pictures, so I focused on getting us down safely. I needed two hands to navigate and steady myself.

The girls made it to me and we assessed our situation. We were in an awful spot! We couldn’t walk sideways because there was a rock outcropping too steep to traverse. In addition that “rain shower” had turned to snow above us (wonderful weather forecast, huh?) and the rocks were really slippery. The only way down was to slide on the snow another 200 feet.

So we did. The glissade wasn’t pretty, as the grade was too steep to do anything but dig your heels in to slow down your descent. The girls are all smiles in these pictures (I’ve trained them to smile on cue because I’m always taking their pictures), but I know they were thinking “I’m going to DIE!” In reality, that was a possibility if they didn’t control their descent. They were fabulous!

The first thing Tristina said when we got to the bottom was “I’m glad those rocks were there to break our fall!” It sounds comical, but she was actually sincere: the rocks provided us traction and gave us breaks from snow that kept us from sliding out of control. They also ripped a very large hole in her pants, right where you don’t want a hole. She used her sweatshirt to cover the damage.

I was seriously worried about our predicament at this point, but knew we needed to keep going to save ourselves. We were at an inaccessible spot on the mountain, no one was hurt, we were all together and we could make our way down. We just needed to be extremely careful and not make one misstep, or we’d seriously injure ourselves on the rocks. Or tumble and break something and be in serious trouble.

I knew I needed to be a leader for the girls, so I kept up a positive, encouraging attitude while inside being scared I was leading them into danger. For their part the girls were amazing! They trusted my decisions completely, followed my footsteps, and problem solved on their own when necessary. I went first and many times had to direct them on the right path from places they couldn’t see me.

From here on out we tried to avoid snow patches whenever possible, hiking up and around them as we could. We spent a lot of time navigating large granite boulders. One of my girls was in shock, and we were all on a serious adrenaline rush. None of us were hurt, but we all knew we should have been. I knew they were scared, but the girls didn’t stop: they kept hiking down.

The group of 10 guys who followed us up was now descending, so we made our way towards them. They weren’t using a trail, but hiking straight down. This making your own trail irks me, but in our present situation I totally understood. We bouldered and traversed straight down, using them as a reference point. It took us about 75 minutes to reach them. One of the guys in the group started talking to us: he said their group was being led by someone who placed 2^nd in a very popular Pikes Peak run. Impressive!

We tried to stay behind the group of guys (remember that embarrassing hole in the pants?), but they kept slowing down and taking breaks. This didn’t make ANY sense! They were all very fit men who shouldn’t have had to take so many “breaks”.

Eventually we figured it out when they asked us if we were anywhere near the trail: They didn’t know where they were going! They asked us for help navigating back to the trail. We knew the general direction so we led the way.

At one point we came to a large expanse of snow there was no way to navigate around: we had to cross it. This time we did so more confidently. I went first, solidly sitting down and sliding feet first. The incline wasn’t as steep as at the top, so I was able to make a nice smooth slide. The girls quickly followed. This time glissading was fun!

I heard the group of guys shout “Wow! Those girls are badass!”

I shouted from below to the guys “feel free to use the slide!”

They enthusiastically accepted and we watched them get a running start, jump and slide, obviously having great fun!

Jordan was the one who eventually found the trail that led to the A-frame, and we were back in business! The guys continued down to Barr Camp, while we took a bit of a rest and assessed our current situation. We had just been through a very scary experience most people would have needed to have been rescued from. None of us was hurt, we’d made it out alive, and we were proud of how we handled everything! We considered this trip a very exciting win!

I am hiking the trail with another group next week, and we are staying overnight at the A-frame, so I “hid” my jacket so I don’t need to carry it up the trail next week. Then and used the facilities (although it was jokingly commented that might have already been taken care of accidentally on that first slide) and we hiked back down the trail.

The rest of the hike was uneventful. It rained a cold, biting rain the last 6 miles (once again, great weather forecast, huh? I almost wished I’d have kept my jacket). We were surrounded by rolling thunder but no lightening.

We talked with several hikers making their way to Barr Camp, intending on summiting the next day. They all had snow shoes, and said they’d gotten advice from someone on “14ners.com” indicating they were needed. We assured them they weren’t. The girls we met who were hiking up were all intrigued and started in on conversation, asking about trail conditions, etc. The men all seemed amused and acted like they knew better than we did. The conversation stopped with them there. Hmmm….

We also saw a hiker on his way up rather late in the day (6pm) with nothing but skis and a water jug. He looked extremely fit and like he knew what he was doing, but not prepared at all for sleeping overnight, which he’d need to do in order to reach an area with enough snow to ski.

We never did see that church group on the way back down, and their vans were gone by the time we made it to the parking lot, 13 hours and 26 miles later!

My final comments to the girls: Remember, you can do ANYTHING guys can do, one handed (I summited with a camera in my left hand), bleeding. Many times while wearing heels..

Troop 931 Backpacking Pikes Peak

Pikes Peak is an INTENSE hike, made even more so by backpacking. We are all tired and extremely sore, but proud of our accomplishment!

I grow as a person every time we Girl Scouts get together!

Thank you Girl Scout Troop 931 for teaching me about teamwork, patience, FUN, goals, perseverance, and awesomeness!!! Oh, and for those interested, YES they did help rescue someone on this trip too: a hiker with a broken ankle about a quarter mile from the summit. Troop 931 ROCKS!!!

This wasn’t our first rodeo (we did the same hike last summer and saved some hikers. You can read that story here: http://lauramclark.tumblr.com/post/95826650834/girl-scout-troop-931-backpacking-pikes-peak-and ) so we started before the sunrise to get an early start on the hike. The weather changes frequently on the mountain, and we knew it would start out cold, get really hot, then back to cold again as we made it past the tree line. Here are the girls, all ready to go in their “warm” clothes. We just layer for hikes like these. Also notice how happy and fresh they look.

Along the way we saw different flowers than last time (since we were hiking two months earlier in the season). I love seeing columbines growing in nature!

This is a really tough hike. About 6 miles in there’s a place called Barr Camp where a lot of hikers stay the night. Our overnight spot was still another 3 miles up the trail. Here’s Kayla passed out as we took a lunch break. Poor girl! This was a much harder hike than she’d anticipated. She was doing great though!

Notice this sign posted as you leave Barr Camp. Unfortunately, too many hikers either don’t see this sign, or don’t take it seriously.

About half a mile past Barr Camp we split into two teams. Jordan, Ruth Ann, and Tristina were hiking fast, so they went on up ahead and were to meet Kayla and I at the “A-frame”. Kayla was exhausted by this point, but kept on going. We all knew it would be easier if we separated, and we wanted to make sure we had a spot to sleep tonight since it’s first come (so getting there first was our best option).

Kayla and I made it to the A-Frame about 2 hours after the other girls. They had already set up camp and rested by the time we got there.

Kayla immediately unpacked her sleeping bag, and fell asleep.

The other girls had already rested, so by this point they were ready to talk. I walked around the campsite to get some pictures.

The A-Frame isn’t very big, and we didn’t want to put our things on the ground because there were a lot of critters around, so we weren’t as “tidy” as we could have been.

Jordan and Tristina got to work sanitizing water and making dinner. The site has a running creek year long, so this time we decided not to hike with as much water (conserving weight), and we planned to filter water at the top. The girls boiled the water, then placed the container of water in the stream to cool down before drinking it. I just have to say, as I was talking this picture I kept thinking to myself what awesome ladies these girls are! They were totally able to do everything themselves on this trip, and they did so without complaining. They have skills and they were having fun!

I mentioned earlier we weren’t very tidy in the A-Frame. However, we are Girl Scouts, so we do leave places cleaner than we find them. We brought trash bags to haul trash down the mountain (yes, even stuff that wasn’t ours), but we realized there was so much trash we couldn’t bring it all down. This was odd/not cool because we’d camped in the same spot less than a year before and totally cleared it of all trash. We decided to make the best of the situation and just burned as much as possible. Since there isn’t any wood to burn at the site (you have to haul it up from down the mountain) this had the added benefit of keeping us warm.

Have I mentioned the view at night from tree line is absolutely amazing! If winter didn’t exist on the peak I could live there. Enough said.

The sunrise is equally beautiful. We set our alarm just so we could watch the morning glow.

After a breakfast of Mountain House eggs and bacon (gross by the way, we’re never doing that again), we were off to climb the peak!

About half a mile in we decided we’d split up again. Kayla was having a lot of difficulty with this hike, and we were at the part where you have to keep going or you’ll never get started again. This is a very mental hike, and you have to know how to psych yourself up to continue.

Even though it’s July there is still a lot of snow on the peak. These drifts are much larger in person than they look from Colorado Springs. They are about the size of a football field, and they are very slippery! We saw many people fall because they were over confident. Kayla fell on each one (there were 7 or 8), hard, but she kept going!

The 16 Golden Stairs are anything but. This is the hardest part of the hike, and it took us about 1.5 hours to do (even though it’s only about ¼ of a mile). We kept stopping every 2 or 3 feet because Kayla really didn’t want to continue. However, I wasn’t going to let her give up. She told me at the beginning of this hike she was doing it for her dad (who passed away the week before), and I wanted to help her reach her goal.

There were a lot of tears and frustrated words said (never towards another person), but Kayla kept going.

I’m very, very, very proud to say she made it!!! Many (ok, most) grown men cannot complete this hike. It was hard, it hurt, and she was tired, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other and made it to the top.

She was exhausted when we got there (we both were). As soon as she crossed the cog tracks she stopped, raised her hands, looked up, and started talking to her dad in heaven. I couldn’t help it, I started to cry.

All of the work to get to the top was totally worth it! When she was done she turned to me, gave me a big hug, and said “Thank you Ms. Laura for helping me get to the top. I’m sorry I yelled at you!”. I cried some more.

Then we walked the 20 or so feet to the Summit House and Kayla fell asleep for the next 45 minutes.

We met the other girls there, got some donuts, drinks, and fudge, and told about our separate climbs.

Jordan, Ruth Ann, and Tristina told me they had helped rescue a man who had broken his ankle about a quarter mile from the top. He wasn’t a hiker, so he wasn’t prepared. He had driven to the peak and was hiking down to take selfies when he tripped (yes, he had a selfie stick).

They tried to give him an ice pack, but it exploded so they did the next best thing: They used their ace bandage to wrap his ankle, then got a ziplock bag and filled it with ice.

Then the girls helped him up and he hopped on one foot (his good one) to the top with one of his arms around each of the girls shoulders. He thanked them profusely when they arrived, and promised to get in touch when he made it home.

I woke Kayla up after 45 minutes because her body needed a rest: You burn just as many calories sitting at 14,000+ feet as you do running at sea level, so she needed to move down the mountain so her body could rest properly. We also needed to finish our hike: it was only half over!

As Alison Levine says: “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory”.

We posed for a few pictures (we were too tired when we got there at first to take any), and were on our way down.

This is where the real teamwork began. Kayla was very tired from this hike. We all were. I run 5-10 miles a day, Jordan is captain of the Ice Hockey team, Tristina runs cross country, and Ruth Ann runs as well, so we were more conditioned for this hike (don’t get me wrong, we were still aching).

Kayla however wasn’t conditioned, and was exhausted. She wanted to stop and rest every 15 feet or so, and that just wasn’t possible if we wanted to make it down the mountain.

So the girls helped to keep her motivated. They held her hand as she navigated tough rocky areas and the slippery slopes of snow. They let her hold onto their backpacks for support, and held her hand to help keep up her momentum.

They also kept praising her progress and success!

When we got just about to the tree line we started seeing marmots. 3 or 4 were chirping to each other, and some stayed still long enough for us to get pictures!

I love this one: you can see the Garden of the Gods below!

At tree line Kayla remembered we forgot to take a picture of her celebrating at the peak, so we took one now:

She did it! Great job Kayla! She looks filthy but proud of her accomplishments! She probably lost 5-10 pounds as well from the beginning (did I mention this is an intense 26+ mile hike? We did a mountain marathon in less than 36 hours)

Author: Laura M Clark